Butternut Squash

I bought this butternut squash to plant in late May.  There were three plants in the little container, and I hoped that at least one of them would survive.

After I planted the three, I draped cheesecloth over them, and anchored it down with bricks from my garage.  The sales lady at The Growing Place told me to do this to prevent moths from laying their eggs at the bases of the plants.  I've since heard that other gardeners don't do anything like this, but I had never grown squash before and figured I needed every bit of help I could get.

After a few rain events, I realized the cheesecloth was sticking to the plants and weighing them down.  So I found some short tomato cages, positioned them over the plants, then draped the cheesecloth over the cages.  That worked pretty well, and I checked the plants often to see if there were flowers, in which case I'd be able to remove the cheesecloth--this is what the sales lady told me, anyway.

Above, by mid-June, the squash had pushed its way against the cheesecloth and beyond.  I added a stake (see it on the left?) and draped some more cheesecloth over that section.  Still no blossoms.

Finally, the plants had outgrown their clothing, and would have to continue in the buff.  See the plants below pushing out from under the cheesecloth?  They were really growing big!

So, I uncovered everything.

The plants are just growing everywhere!

The leaves are so big and pretty now!

And.  Wait.  Just.  A.  Minute.  The wind blew the leaves aside, and there it was.

A squash blossom.  Heavenly!!

After another week, I saw blossoms everywhere:

After the rain.

The below is my July 9 overview image.  See the squash in the back right?  It has taken over the entire bed!  Good thing I never planted anything else in that bed this year.

I can't wait until I start seeing little squashes where all those beautiful blossoms are now blooming!


Back to life,
Christine

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